


The Mystery in the Doctor

by rebaobsessions



Series: The Profiler in the Therapist [2]
Category: Bones (TV), Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate POV for main story, Gen, more of a summary of events than actual scenes, more parts and POVs likely to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 05:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15042212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebaobsessions/pseuds/rebaobsessions
Summary: Dr. Lance Sweets is a therapist learning his place in the world following a horrible experience. He's got a new job, a new purpose, and he's meeting new people. These people... they don't have the full picture, and sometimes they can't help but wonder about the young man who stumbled into their lives.This work will be a compilation of one shots exploringThe Profiler in the Therapistfrom different perspectives. The majority of chapters will be summaries of events that happen in that story but in another character's POV. Please read that first so you know what's going on!(I will take requests and prompts for this as well, so if there's anything you want to see let me know)





	The Mystery in the Doctor

**Author's Note:**

> BEHOLD! The first addition to the series! This first chapter has actually been written for a while, but I've been holding onto it, trying to decide if it was good enough or not. I finally, after posting the most recent chapter of the main fic, went "what the hell," cleaned it up a bit, and decided to send it out. It's a different format, for sure, with absolutely zero dialogue, so please feel free to give me feedback on how you'd like me to handle this compilation in the future.  
> I hope you like it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set from Booth's POV at the beginning of Chapter 12 of Profiler in the Therapist. It is therefore everything up through Wannabe in the Weeds.

Special Agent Seeley Booth was not sure what to make of Lance Sweets. His initial impression of the young doctor was not particularly favorable; he seemed inexperienced, unprofessional, and obnoxious. His questions were either prying or annoying, and Booth was never quite sure _what_ exactly he was trying to accomplish. The agent was not all that partial to the mandated partner therapy sessions to begin with, but the aimless nature of the sessions made him even more reluctant to cooperate with the frankly _unnecessary_ direction. And, well, if Booth was reluctant, his partner was incensed.

Dr. Temperance Brennan _hated_ their therapist, and _hated_ psychology, and _hated_ every pointless moment in the dull, grey, standard-issue FBI office spent staring at each other and dodging uncomfortable questions. Booth had been aware for some time that Bones was against anything that pried into her past or personal life, but he was downright startled by the animosity she presented to their young therapist.

Frankly, Booth felt sorry for the guy. He had no idea how the he was able to approach each of their sessions with seemingly infinite patience in the face of such obvious hostility. Despite everything they threw at him, he kept a cool head. After a while, Booth could almost see where he was coming from sometimes. It kinda helped, in a weird “poke the anthropologist until she admits a problem” sort of way. And, well, he supposed he could respect him for that. Even if he was still an unprofessional kid with a shiny new degree and no practical experience.

But then… stuff stopped making sense.

It was little things at first, things that Booth didn’t really notice at first. Like, on the first case he helped with, Booth was surprised at how _knowledgeable_ the guy seemed. He had asked on a whim, not expecting the therapist to be of any use on a murder case — _even if_ he was supposedly trained as a profiler— but Sweets wasn’t even phased. He even managed to shoot Brennan down, with _statistics_ , when she questioned the validity of his claims. (Even then, Booth didn’t really appreciate the doctor’s help until they caught the guy and he saw how well Sweet’s profile matched.)

After that, well, Booth became more aware of the doctor’s competency, but he still seemed normal. Odd, a bit unorthodox, and still rather unprofessional (and _annoying_ ), but… capable. But in a _weird_ way. Just— _pottery_. The guy took them to a _pottery_ class. It didn’t get much stranger than that. And boy, if that wasn’t an experience! (It had devolved into a clay fight, of all things!) It did, however, lead to a new discovery in the form of the doctor’s bubbly and eccentric friend, Penelope, who was from his _old_ job _._

 _Sweets_ —the kid who seemed to have barely graduated—had an _old job?_

Then suddenly, in their next (and final) session, Sweets was withdrawn and distant. Distracted. For a while, Booth debated the likelihood that Bones had finally pushed his patience too far, but… it wasn’t just during the brief “you’re clear to work together, _for now_ ” meeting, nor the little chance meetings in the hall; he had spotted the young therapist from a distance too, and it was like he was moving through a haze. He seemed… sad, and Booth couldn’t help but wonder what had happened. (Bones, of course, was none the wiser.)

But then, just as suddenly, it was like someone had flipped a switch and the guy was back to normal. Booth was baffled for two weeks (staunchly refusing to acknowledge that he was becoming obsessed with analyzing his own—albeit former—therapist), until the doctor himself popped into his office during a meeting with Caroline Julian, armed with a psychological evaluation on Max Keenan.

And… he had a _nephew?_

Booth would deny to the end of time that he spent all day thinking about Sweets, his nephew (who he apparently picked up on Wednesdays), and his brother Aaron (who was on casual speaking terms with _Caroline Julian_ ). After all, that would just be creepy. He did _not_ care that much about the profiler. He was _not_ that interesting.

(He was becoming more interesting by the day.)

Not long after discovering his existence, Booth met the nephew himself. He was rather intelligent for his age and dropped a few more tidbits about Sweets for Booth’s quiet consumption. Jack’s father, presumably the Aaron who knew Caroline, worked with a variety of individuals the boy considered Aunts and Uncles, including a Penelope, who’s office was very colorful.

Penelope, who Sweets knew from his old job.

Then, he happened to get stuck in traffic and arrive late to the Max Keenan prosecution team’s first meeting. He barely arrived in time to hear Caroline Julian almost _bragging_ to the others that the therapist had graduated with his _second_ doctorate and entered the _FBI Academy_ at the age of 21. And _then,_ Sweets revealed that he had experience sitting as an expert psychological witness—though not alone—and demonstrated a clear fondness for the BAU team when arguing with Zack.

Everything started to paint a very clear picture: Dr. Lance Sweets, aged 23, was a fully trained FBI field agent with hands-on experience working for the BAU.

At the end of the second day of the trial, Booth had conformation that not _only_ was Sweets an ex-BAU agent, but he had, for all intents and purposes, retired from field work. That was extremely telling; no one _willingly_ chained themselves to a desk. Not unless… something horrible happened.

At the conclusion of the trial, and the release of Bones’ dad, Booth was feeling pretty good. His partner was happy, Max was going straight, and he had the brand-new weekly opportunity to try and figure Dr. Sweets out. On Monday, though, that opportunity seemed to be disappearing. Brennan was thrilled to have one more week before the torture started up again, but Booth was just worried.

He had never seen Sweets so on edge before.

That entire week was baffling for the agent. He was barely able to appreciate the new tidbits he learned about the profiler—such as the fact that Sweet’s old team at the BAU was basically family. Instead, Booth couldn’t help seeing the therapist’s obvious distress. He was jumpy and shifty, suspicious about the (admittedly clingy and rather creepy) victim’s alleged girlfriend, and he seemed to be moving through a fugue that was eerily similar yet so much more horrible than the month before.

Booth was already concerned about the young doctor, who was quickly earning not only his trust and respect but his genuine _care_ as well, but at the end of the case Booth found himself downright _distracted_ by the guy. He had gotten an unexpected call from ‘Aaron’ (who Booth suspected was not only the father of Sweets’ nephew but his former boss as well) before _disappearing_ for nearly an hour.

When he finally reappeared, they had relocated from Bones’ office and were gathered on the platform in the center of the lab with everyone else. The move had been prompted by Bones determining a likely murder weapon, a guitar string, after seeing an angry guitarist in the video they had been watching when Sweets disappeared. They hadn’t been able to find Sweets when they were gathering everyone, but he appeared as the anthropologist was preparing to test the guitar string on a piece of cheese. Booth didn’t notice him at first, not until he wandered up to the platform and Cam let him up, but once he had… he couldn’t look away.

The therapist was like a ghost. He smiled and nodded and greeted everyone, but he didn’t seem to register any of it. He was pale, shaken, and distant. Like he was millions of miles away, detached from what he was doing and what he was saying. Like he had gotten the worst news of his life.

Like he had experienced a bone shaking panic attack.

Now, Booth didn’t know what to make of Dr. Lance Sweets, but he knew the signs of PTSD when he saw them. And there, sitting in front of him and chuckling along with the group, was a man that reminded Booth _vividly_ of every soldier he knew.

As he listened to his partner narrate the reenactment of the victim’s murder and watched Zack fall out of the corner of his eye, Booth stared at the wounded man no one else seemed to see. He stared, an unwelcome tightness in his chest, and wondered. He wondered how such a young brilliant man could be so complex and carry such impossible weight. He wondered what had disturbed him, what his ‘brother’ had said… He wondered…

What, exactly, had Dr. Sweets been through?

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if you'd like to see any particular event or from a certain character's POV! I'm happy to try out any ideas y'all have. Drop me a comment or shoot me an ask at @rebaobsessions/@rebaobsessivelywrites on Tumblr.


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